The Translation of Haruhi Suzumiya (Novel Translation Thread)

[Psieye]

Originally Posted by Buwoy

BTW, is the anime doing a 1 ep = 1 chapter format?

Not quite. Ep 2 covers Vol 1's prologue, Ch 1 and the start of Ch 2. Ep 3 covers the rest of Ch 2 (except the last section) then jumps to Ch 3 stopping halfway in the middle of Nagato Yuki's talk. Best to not read Ch 3 as it's hard to stop reading in the middle of Yuki's talk ^^;;

[Onizuka-GTO]

Ah, Novel Haruhi fan, just a little peice of amusing info.

Thelastguardian has just informed me that from his great server access powers, the server logs has showed him that the English Novel scripts has been frequently accessed, processed though a online translators back into Japanese.

........

It's maddess!

Full circle! Yin & Yang! Alpha & Omega!

I can only explaination is that some tight-fisted reader who can only read Japanese can't find the money to buy the novel or can't get hold of it, so used our scripts.

Talk about recycling....

[melange]

Originally Posted by Onizuka-GTO

Ah, Novel Haruhi fan, just a little peice of amusing info.

Thelastguardian has just informed me that from his great server access powers, the server logs has showed him that the English Novel scripts has been frequently accessed, processed though a online translators back into Japanese.

........

It's maddess!

Full circle! Yin & Yang! Alpha & Omega!

I can only explaination is that some tight-fisted reader who can only read Japanese can't find the money to buy the novel or can't get hold of it, so used our scripts.

Talk about recycling....

I think there are 2 possible explanations:

1. 2ch is checking "how accurately the novels have been translated". Of course running it through an online translator is definitely not the way to do it but I've seen it happen before with a Suikoden forum in the one month period Suikoden 5 was released in Japanese hadn't been released in english yet: fan translated blurbs some Japanese-savvy English fans did about the game to satisfy the thirst of info were 'retranslated' into Japanese... then roundly commented on (criticized) in 2ch.

2. An act of desperation. With the 1st novel selling out in Japan maybe it is the only way for someone to get at the 1st novel.

I would bet on the 1st though.

[Onizuka-GTO]

Originally Posted by melange

I think there are 2 possible explanations:

1. 2ch is checking "how accurately the novels have been translated". Of course running it through an online translator is definitely not the way to do it but I've seen it happen before with a Suikoden forum in the one month period Suikoden 5 was released in Japanese hadn't been released in english yet: fan translated blurbs some Japanese-savvy English fans did about the game to satisfy the thirst of info were 'retranslated' into Japanese... then roundly commented on (criticized) in 2ch.

2. An act of desperation. With the 1st novel selling out in Japan maybe it is the only way for someone to get at the 1st novel.

I would bet on the 1st though.

2ch really likes to critize us, don't they?

[Kinny Riddle]

Wow, these 2ch guys have more free time than I do.
No disrespect to the people who brought us Densha Otoko, though.

After resting for one day, vol 1 chapter 6 translation has commenced. 1/5 is completed for now. Putting a percentage completion sign is better than "not completed".

[Onizuka-GTO]

ooh. partial translation added! Editors get cracking!

[Adigard]

I'm sure the 2ch folks are pretty soundly dissapointed then ^^

No offense to Kinny Riddle or the wonderful dedication he's managed to dedicate to this undertaking, but Kinny's source materials are the Chinese books. Which means they were already translated from Japanese to Chinese. Kinny is translating the Chinese materials to English. The 2ch'ers are (in theory) auto translating that from English to Japanese...

That's a scary number of translation steps. I can't imagine how lossy the final result must be ^^;;

Kinny Riddle? I'm really looking forward to the rest of your translation of volume 1, you're doing a damn fine job for those of us who can't read the source materials ^^

[Kinny Riddle]

Originally Posted by Adigard

I'm sure the 2ch folks are pretty soundly dissapointed then ^^

No offense to Kinny Riddle or the wonderful dedication he's managed to dedicate to this undertaking, but Kinny's source materials are the Chinese books. Which means they were already translated from Japanese to Chinese. Kinny is translating the Chinese materials to English. The 2ch'ers are (in theory) auto translating that from English to Japanese...

That's a scary number of translation steps. I can't imagine how lossy the final result must be ^^;;

Kinny Riddle? I'm really looking forward to the rest of your translation of volume 1, you're doing a damn fine job for those of us who can't read the source materials ^^

It probably goes like this:

Original Japanese: "Haruhi: I'd never molest Mikuru-chan." (liar xD)
Chinese: "Haruhi: I won't molest Mikuru-chan."
English: "Haruhi: I didn't molest Mikuru-chan."
babelfished Japanese: "Haruhi: I just raped Mikuru-chan." (WTF?)

And then the unwitting 2ch'ers would go on to diss how the authors gone too far with the fanservice in the novels.

Oh and one thing, better not edit until the chapter is completed 100%, you might bump into me doing the translation at the same time and there'll be a conflict in page updating. For now, just discuss in the chapter "discussion" link about any specific stuff. Notably for this chapter is the term for the "Blue Giant", and "Locked Space".

[Thelastguardian]

Originally Posted by Adigard

I'm sure the 2ch folks are pretty soundly dissapointed then ^^

Nah they won't. I followed the URLs in the server log, and checked the translated Japanese script myself.

Trust me when I say, if you can understand the computer translation, you are not human .

As for the pdf issue, I sent an email to another person who asked for my permission. I got the email a few days ago; somehow I missed it.

As for the pdf issue, I am currently looking into it. I however do not plan to do it short term- I want everyone to have the chance to edit the chapters before I finalize them. Making pdf files out of a half-edited chapter defeats the point of having a wiki. Ideally I would set a deadline for the finalization of the chapters, but nothing concrete yet.
Furthermore I am in the process of getting ahold a copy of Adobe Acrobat. I will see what I can do.

Of course, if you want you can make the pdf yourself. Just put the following
1. Baka-Tsuki's wiki URL
2. Translators/Editors names
3. A notice that says Not For Commercial Use and Not Finalized.
4. Date of the script

Agreeable, right?

[Sushi-Y]

Originally Posted by Onizuka-GTO

I can only explaination is that some tight-fisted reader who can only read Japanese can't find the money to buy the novel or can't get hold of it, so used our scripts.

I doubt it. Any Japanese with enough free time to do something like that can easily obtain the novels all the way up to the latest serialization from The Sneaker on Winny (especially if we're talking about a 2ch vipper here).

And the novel's really only selling out in otaku-centric areas like Akihabara. They're still available through most online retailers.

Originally Posted by Kinny Riddle

"Blue Giant", and "Locked Space"

それ、「神人」と「閉鎖空間」のこと？ "Locked Space"はまだ分かるけど (個人的には"Lockdown Dimension"がベストかな、カッコイイ響きだと思わない？) "Blue Giant"はちょっと．．．コイツのことを、つい連想してしまった。いっそ"Divine Being"とか"Supreme Giant"にすればどう? 超テキトだけど。

Well, no matter, I'm only an outsider on this, so I'll just shut up.

[PhantomX]

Originally Posted by Kinny Riddle

It probably goes like this:

Original Japanese: "Haruhi: I'd never molest Mikuru-chan." (liar xD)
Chinese: "Haruhi: I won't molest Mikuru-chan."
English: "Haruhi: I didn't molest Mikuru-chan."
babelfished Japanese: "Haruhi: I just raped Mikuru-chan." (WTF?)

This has to be the funniest thing I've ever read on this forum. And sadly, also the most truthful

By the way, thanks a lot translators!!!

[Onizuka-GTO]

Originally Posted by Sushi-Y

I doubt it. Any Japanese with enough free time to do something like that can easily obtain the novels all the way up to the latest serialization from The Sneaker on Winny (especially if we're talking about a 2ch vipper here).

And the novel's really only selling out in otaku-centric areas like Akihabara. They're still available through most online retailers.


それ、「神人」と「閉鎖空間」のこと？ "Locked Space"はまだ分かるけど (個人的には"Lockdown Dimension"がベストかな、カッコイイ響きだと思わない？) "Blue Giant"はちょっと．．．コイツのことを、つい連想してしまった。いっそ"Divine Being"とか"Supreme Giant"にすればどう? 超テキトだけど。

Well, no matter, I'm only an outsider on this, so I'll just shut up.

ah...but when your the only "gaijin-san" here, your opinion are valued

*takes notes from sushi-Y*

[ordnance11]

I just finished reading all the way thru the partial chapter 6..and I salute everyone for you dedication and hard work....

I must admit though chapter 6 threw me for a loop!

[Onizuka-GTO]

guruguru meguru (sentimentu our generation)

[[darkfire]]

Who needs adobe acrobat when you have open office. But I have PageMaker and Adobe Acrobat my self. I am willing to help out in any way.

I did plan on doing a pdf myself. After reading thelastguardin's comment. I think I may hold out until I find a good way to cope with all the editing changes.

[Kinny Riddle]

Volume 1 Chapter 6 is now 70% completed.

This chapter involves mention of the Anthropic Principle. I don't know if it's accurate, so I had some help from wikipedia. Further edits might be necessary to keep in line with the original Japanese text.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic_principle

I heard from some forums that even Tanigawa-sensei isn't too familiar with the Anthropic Principle himself and got some of the explanations wrong. In translation, I would prefer that these "mistakes" be presevred, whether they be deliberate or not. Since we as the reader were not supposed to understand it anyway, just seeing this as part of Koizumi's lengthy rhetorics.

[Onizuka-GTO]

...well thats why we have psieye


look how scary he is in the Onotology thread......


wait.

HERSELF?

Taniguchi-sensei -> onna?



if so, she deserves worth praise!

[Freak Of Nature]

Originally Posted by Onizuka-GTO

HERSELF?

Taniguchi-sensei -> onna?



if so, she deserves worth praise!

So far as I know, Tanigawa-sensei is male.

And why would a female author deserve more praise than a male author? What sort of reverse bigotry is that?

[Kinny Riddle]

Originally Posted by Freak Of Nature

So far as I know, Tanigawa-sensei is male.

And why would a female author deserve more praise than a male author? What sort of reverse bigotry is that?

My mistake, I must've confused Tanigawa with someone else. I was half asleep when typing his name, my most sincere apologies to Tanigawa-sensei for mistaking him with the Kyon's "minion" character friend.

I'm sure I read somewhere Tanigawa is a she, or was that Itou Noiji?

[Onizuka-GTO]

Originally Posted by Fon

So far as I know, Tanigawa-sensei is male.

And why would a female author deserve more praise than a male author? What sort of reverse bigotry is that?

Is that bigotry? oh. sorry, didn't mean it that way.

i guess i haven't read all that many hard sci-fi female authors.

The only sci-fi author i've enjoyed are all the novels by Anna Mccaffrey love her books.

But they don't have all those complicated theories and stuff, i just guess that the women who did know them just didn't think it was worth writing science fiction novels.

Or it simply could be i haven't broden my reading range.

either way, i apologize if i've offended anyone, by my careless remark.